2008 SUPER GT Round9

Weather:Rain | Course:Wet | Air Temp. 11°C | Track Temp. 13°C

Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira runs fastest time in rainy first session

The first qualifying session began at 10:10 in the morning. The rain that had been falling since morning didn’t let up, so the first qualifying session had to be run with a completely wet track condition.

The first 20-minute session was for the GT300 class. Here, the AWD (all-wheel drive) No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA (Carlo Van Dam) ran the fastest time. Following with the 2nd and 3rd fastest time were the two teams running on Hankook tires that fit the track condition perfectly, the No. 33 HANKOOK PORSCHE (Masami Kageyama) and the No. 27 ISHIMATSU•FUNKY’S•HANKOOK GT3 (Takashi Inoue). In forth place came the third Porsche machine, the No. 26 YUNKER POWER TAISAN PORSCHE (Nobuteru Taniguchi).

The next 20 minutes were for the GT500 class. Perhaps owing to the heavy load of handicap weights it carries for this race, the ranking leader No. 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R (Benoit Treluyer) had too much momentum at one point and ran off the track, hitting the tire barrier side-on. Fortunately there was not much damage to the machine and Treluyer was able to get it back to the pit under its own power, but it had been a moment that had everyone in the pit holding their breath. After that the No. 32 EPSON NSX (Loic DUVAL), the No. 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R (J.P.L. De Oliveira) and the No. 35 houzan KRAFT SC430 (Peter Dumbreck) all improved on their times. Just prior to the start of the mixed class session, cars of three different makers, No. 32, No. 24 and No. 35, held the top three positions.

The last 20 minutes of the session were for both classes. As the cars continued their runs, much of the water was cleared from the running lines, presenting the opportunity for faster times. In the GT500 class, De Oliveira in No. 24 and Treluyer in No. 23 were among the ones able to improve their times. No. 24 recorded a 1 min. 45.191 sec. lap to take the lead away from No. 32. Also, No. 23 was able to move up to 8th position and win the right to run in the afternoon Super Lap. Standing 2nd in the season ranking, the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure) qualified 7th fastest in this session while the 3rd ranked No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer) qualified 5th fastest to secure a slot in the Super Lap. Filling out the top ten qualifiers for the Super Lap were the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX, the No. 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 (Hiroaki Ishiura) the No. 1 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman) and the No. 17 REAL NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi). Meanwhile, both drivers Yuji Tachikawa and Richard Lyons of the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 - which has to win this race in order to have a chance at the season title - drove as hard as they could but only managed to qualify 15th. It will be very difficult for them to score a come-from-behind title win this time.

In the GT300 class, Kageyama in car No. 33 ran a 1 min. 52.356 sec. lap on his last try and took the lead. Tetsuya Yamano in car No. 77 also improved his time to 1 min. 53.017 sec., but was still just short of the leader. After that, several more cars improved their times, bringing numerous changes in the top ten.
In the end, the ten qualifiers for the GT300 class Super Lap were No. 33, No. 77, No. 26, the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Shinichi Takagi), the No.46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z (Hironobu Yasuda), the No. 2 Privée KENZO Asset•Shiden (Hiroki Katoh), the No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R (Haruki Kurosawa), the No. 19 WedsSport IS350 (Manabu Orido), the No. 5 Proμ MACH-GO 320R (Naoya Yamano) and No. 27.

Weather:Rain | Course:Wet | Air Temp. 12° | Track Temp. 14°

Toshihiro Kaneishi conquers the wet track for his first PP

The second qualifying session started at 13:45. The rain had become a drizzle but contended to fall and the track remained completely wet. At the start of the session the air temperature was 12 degrees C. and the track surface temperature was 14 degrees.

The first 15 minutes was for the GT300 class, followed by 15 minutes for the GT500 class, giving all the machines time on the track. Four teams that had failed to clear the qualifying time in the morning session, the No. 808 Hatsune Miku Studie GLAD BMW Z4, the No. 666Rakuten BOMEX 320R, No. 170GaishanoGaikokuya & LMP Porsche and the No. 9 NISSO SERVICE C6, also failed to clear it in this session and lost the opportunity to compete in the final race.

The Super Lap began with the GT300 class. The No. 19 WedsSport IS350 (Manabu Orido) led off with a 1 min. 53.250 sec. lap, followed by the No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R (Shinsuke Shibahara), which also recorded a time in the 1 min. 53 sec. range to move into 2nd position. After that, the season ranking leaders, the No. 2 Privée KENZO Asset•Shiden (Hiroki Katoh), the No. 46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z (Hironobu Yasuda) and the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Shinichi Takagi), made their runs. Among these, No. 43 was fastest with a 1 min. 53.557 sec. lap that moved it past No. 62 to stand in 2nd position behind No. 19. In contrast, neither No. 2 nor No. 46 was able to break the 1 min. 54sec. barrier.
Of the remaining three runners, the No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA (Carlo Van Dam) ran a fast 1 min. 51.925 sec. lap to grab the lead by a full 1.3 sec. margin. Even the morning’s fastest qualifier and final runner in the Super Lap, the No. 33 HANKOOK PORSCHE (Masami Kageyama), was unable to match this time and settled for 2nd with a 1 min. 52.129 sec. time.
As a result, the pole position went to the No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA. For this team it is their third PP of the season following round four at Sepang and round six, the Pokka 1000km.

After an interval for the course inspection, the GT500 Super Lap began. The first runner was the No. 17 REAL NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi), which had barely managed to place 10th in the morning session and qualify for the Super Lap. In its warm-up lap Kaneishi had run off course but quickly recovered. Then, making his Super Lap run, Kaneishi recorded a fast time of 1 min. 42.661 sec. One after another the other machines ra their Super Laps but none was able to beat Kaneishi’s (No. 17) time. The fastest qualifier from the morning session, J.P.L. De Oliveira in the No. 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R, ran off the track at the first corner, and despite running the 2nd and 3rd sectors in record time, was unable to beat Kaneishi’s time with a 1 min. 42.883 sec. lap. As a result, Toshihiro Kaneishi in the No. 17 REAL NSX won his first-ever GT pole position, which was also the team’s first as well.
The ranking leader, the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R, had to settle for 9th position, while the ranking’s 2nd and 3rd ranked teams, the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX and the NO. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430, will start tomorrow’s race ahead of No. 23 in 7th and 8th position on the grid respectively. Considering the fact that No. 18 must finish 2nd in order to have a chance at the championship title and No. 36 must win the race in order to retain a shot at the title, these two teams are in difficult positions to realize their title dreams on Sunday.

No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA